In 2021, I made a dress from IKEA tablecloths – a nice 50/50 cotton/linen blend with woven borders. I made it slightly reminiscent of 16th century kirtles, with no shaping but for front, back and side seams, and structure given by pad stitched interlining. It closed in front with hooks and eyes, and the skirt was cartridge pleated. Naturally, it had pockets. This was a historybound, not a recreation after all.
When worn over a white blouse, it did look very The Beauty and The Beast, hence the name of the dress. Due to a crashed laptop, I’ve lost most of my old footage, so the ‘before’ pictures was scavenged off of Instagram, which would explain any particularly poor quality.
A year later, I added boning to the bodice, as I didn’t like how the interlining held up on its own. I also added trim to the neckline and fronts, and I liked it much better this way. I had half a plan to do trim on the bodice even when first making the dress, but wanted to wear it plain for a while first. That’s the nice thing about making your own clothes, the same garment can have several looks in its life.
This dress has seen a lot of wear over the years, but for one reason or other, didn’t wear it once in 2025. It was time for another upgrade.
I shortened the bodice just a smidge, as it tended to fold at the small of my back, and while at it, let it out a little in the side seams. I put several darts in the skirt, to make it flared rather than tubular, and reset it with knife pleats.
You can see the fading from where the sun has hit it when cartridge pleated, but I’m fine with it, as this will be an everyday sort of dress, something I wear when running errands. While at it, I redistributed the boning, and added a hand embroidered “stomacher” in the front.
And with this I hope the dress will live on for another couple of years.
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